Something Old and Something New: Illustrating Spousal Ceremonies in "Religious Ceremonies of the Known World"

Canadian Marriage and Divorce Ceremonies

Bernard and Picart subsume the indigenous people of Hudson’s Bay, Mississippi, and Canada into one category, so their depictions of marriage are probably an amalgamation of many different cultures. One major source Bernard quotes is Father Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan explorer of North America who met various indigenous groups along his journey. Hennepin explained that marriages amongst the indigenous people of North America was not binding for life; rather, “the moment domestic broils begin to arise, they separate from each other without the least formality.” Informality seems to be the major critique of indigenous marriage practices for Bernard, and he expresses his distaste for the supposed polygamous and adulterous practices of North American men. Fascinatingly, women seem to get more say in their own marriages here than anywhere else. Bernard writes both of an engagement ceremony where a woman has the right to refuse an offer by blowing out an offered candle, and another scenario where the man and woman “agree together” on a marriage contract.
The Viewers: Bernard emphasizes the importance of older relations to this marriage. He explains, “they assemble in the hut of the most ancient person between them… the most decrepit of the groom’s kinsmen comes to receive [the bride].” Only close older relations seem to able to attend the ceremony. However, outside the door, the bride’s “maidens” meet her and “conduct her back to her father’s house.” The bride and groom do not live together until after they have conceived their first child.
            The Animal Skin: Bernard never writes about the animal head worn by the groom in Picart’s illustration. However, it is probably safe to assume the animal head represents the warrior skill of the indigenous North American man. According to Bernard, indigenous men wait to marry until they are twenty-five so as not to “lose their vigor” too soon. It is only after achieving great war accomplishments that the men begin to think of marrying.
            The Wand: Bernard—or, more accurately, Bernard’s translators—use the word “wand” to describe the rod held by the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony (Hunt and colleagues believe it to be a bow and arrow; other guesses include a whip or a stick). The bride and groom hold the wand while the older men in the room “give several short speeches.” At the end of the ceremony, “they break it into several pieces, and distribute them to several witnesses.” If the couple gets divorced (as shown in the second engraving), they gather up all these pieces and “burn [them] with solemnity, which completes the divorce without strife or dispute.” This ends the marriage and allows both the man and woman to get remarried, although the woman is encouraged to not marry until after her ex-husband’s death.
The Children: Children seem to play a fascinating role in the romantic culture of the indigenous people about whom Bernard writes and Picart illustrates. After a child is born to a married indigenous couple, they are not allowed to have intercourse again until the child is two years old. Bernard explains the reasoning succinctly: “as to that which prohibits the man and woman from cohabiting together until the child is two years old, is too reasonable to conceal its merit from the reader.” While “barrenness” can be a common reason for couples divorcing, the question of what to do with any children that have been born is a complicated one. In Picart’s engraving, two children appear to stand with their mother, while the other two hang behind their father. This follows Bernard’s account of the terms of divorce, when the children are “divided equally between them.” Interestingly, “if there is an odd [child], it always falls to the wife’s lot.”
 

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